


This Family

by Insectopedia



Series: More Alike Then You'd Think [2]
Category: Lazy Town, LazyTown
Genre: Angst, Child Abuse, Domestic, Drama, Fluff, Lol time for the sportarobbie fic i've been meaning to write rip, M/M, Mental Illness, More tags to be added, hopefully it's okay, some of these will probably change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-10-22 09:29:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10694205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insectopedia/pseuds/Insectopedia
Summary: Robbie rotten, now the official guardian of a young girl, realizes that he has to work out his own troubles before he can properly take care of her. Looks like we need a hero to save the day.





	1. Compromise

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter Summary:  
> Robbie Rotten takes up Sportacus' previous offer to help.

“Sportastink!” ,Robbie shouted and watched as the man did a double take.

“Robbie?”

“Yes you idiot, come here I have a brat for you to brainwash!”

Robbie wasn’t the type for physical contact, that much could be seen by his constant flinching and lack of affection but then again he also wasn’t the type of man to leave his lair in a grease stained wife beater, purple jumpsuit tied to his hips and hair ruffled with a lack of gel. But, right now that didn’t matter. He reached out and took ahold of Sportacus’ bicep, with a black oil stained hand, and started to tug the hero back to his lair.

Sportacus didn’t talk for a moment but when he did his voice was a higher pitch than normal. 

“Robbie whats wrong?!” ,he asked, eyes wide.

It was simple: Robbie needed help.

Robbie Rotten hated to admit it but raising a rambunctious, sassy child who was smart enough to read shakespeare  _ for fun _ was more work then he could handle alone.

Balancing the life of a villain was tough enough, often it left him weak from hunger and lack of sleep and emotionally drained. Adding on his mental illnesses made it nearly impossible but a child too? What had he been thinking!

“It’s that loud girl!” Robbie growled, still walking as if Sportacus had legs as long as his, “She keeps complaining about this and that and AGH Do you know what she did this morning?!”

Robbie stopped and twirled around so that he was practically nose to nose with Sportacus.

“No?”

“She got a pancake stuck on the ventilation pipe! It could have burned up there and then it would have smelled like fried robins for a month Sportaslow!”

Sportacus blinked dumbly as Robbie added, “And that was at seven am, seven am sportanut! She had to wake me up to get it down and then, guess what, the stupid pastry landed on my face! Goodbye clear skin i’m going to have to buy pounds of foundation now!”

He stopped, looking at the elf for a moment before realizing the man in front of him wasn’t going to get it. With another low growl Robbie shook his head as if to say never mind and then began pacing back towards his lair

He had tried, Robbie had really tried. Despite being unable to pull himself out of bed some days, despite the anxiety that left him unable to leave his lair on several occasions, despite having no practical knowledge in how to raise a child (only minor ideas of how to manipulate one), he had taken in Trixie when she needed help and no one else had offered her a hand.

He wouldn’t say he regretted it but right now, having to stoop so low as to ask for help from that Sportanut, well, that was a bit out of his comfort zone.

They stopped in front of Robbie’s silo, the same home that he and Trixie had been living together in for almost a month now. Things had been nice for the most part. Trixie gave him space, he gave her anything she needed to be happy (even when he probably shouldn’t have) and they got along. But, she seemed to want more from him then what he could plausibly give. There were times when she acted like a newborn puppy, he’d trip over her as she purposely sprawled out in his workspace and she’d interrupt him while he was in the middle of doing intense mental math that required supreme levels of concentration. He knew she meant well, she only wanted attention, but there was only so much an introvert like Robbie could do, even if he really really liked her and  _ really _ tried to be there (as ewwey gooey as that was).

But today he couldn’t take anymore and as much as it pained him to do this he needed to ask for help.

Wrenching open his ‘front door’ with shaky arms, Robbie paused to look back at Sportacus and with a hushed voice added, “Now Sportakook, I know you think you have a lid on everything but just remember, I warned you.”

“What?”

That was the only thing Sportacus had time to say before Robbie jumped in to the pipe and Sportacus was left with no choice but to follow the odd man who was acting even stranger than usual. All he could think as he did so was, what was Trixie up to?

He landed on the ground with a back flip, right in between an argument that had already begun boiling up in the few seconds that he had taken to get there.

Robbie was still dangling upside down off his chair as he spoke to Trixie, when Sportacus got there.

“Little girl! You didn’t even get into your pajamas!”

He picked himself up as Trixie responded with an indignant, “And you brought Sportacus to fix this! Really Robbie!”

Robbie stuck out his tongue as if  _ he _ was the child in the situation and waved a hand at the hero, “Well if  _ you _ hadn’t argued about bedtime then I wouldn’t have to have brought this-this  _ creature _ into our home! Now Sportapest do your thing!”

The hero blinked, unsure of what exactly was going on but knowing he needed to work on what little he could infer. Turning to an expectant trixie with questioning eyebrows he asked, “Trixie, what seems to be the problem?”

“Robbie’s trying to put me to bed but it’s only 7:30!” ,she didn’t hesitate to whine

Sportacus thought about this for a moment, “Well, i’m sure there’s a good reason for you to go to bed at this time.”

“Yes” Robbie enthusiastically interrupted, “I need quiet and I don’t feel like tripping over legos while I work!”

Trixie was so exasperated that she threw her hands up, “That’s not a good reason!”

Sportacus interrupted before they could start bickering again by leaning down and putting a hand on Trixie’s shoulder.

“Trixie” he waited for her to look at him, “I know it might seem a little unfair but maybe it is a good idea to go to bed early?”

Trixie opened her mouth to argue but Sportacus continued before she could, “Not because Robbie needs quiet time but because if you go to bed early right now then that means you can wake up early tomorrow.”

“And why would I want to do that? No one else will be awake if I’m up early!”

“Well, you could join me when I jog around the park tomorrow morning if you wake up before the others and, if you’re awake before everyone else then that means you’ll get to see them right as they are waking up. Wouldn’t it be great to be the first person to tell them good morning?”

Trixie’s face had softened as he talked and by the time he was done explaining himself she seemed almost onboard with the idea. Nodding solemnly she said, “Alright well, if you promise to run with me tomorrow…”

Sportacus held out his pinky finger, “I promise!”

“Alright” Trixie took his finger with a sigh before turning to Robbie. She smiled at him, a little mischievous, and said, “Goodnight Robbie.”

“Goodnigh-oof!” before he could finish Trixie tackled him with a surprise hug, “Hey get off of me you little brat!”

Trixie giggled and let go of his legs with a louder ‘Goodnight Sportacus!’ and disappeared into a hallway Sportacus probably wouldn’t have noticed on his own.

“Goodnight!” ,he replied.

Standing up, the hero felt a small smile crawl onto his features as he brushed off his hands.

“How… how did you do that?”

Sportacus turned to look at Robbie who was avoiding eye contact with crossed arms.

The hero smiled brighter, unconsciously doing his hero pose by putting his hands on his hips, “Do what, robbie?”

“Do that” Robbie said with a wave of his hand, “I’ve been trying for  _ weeks _ to get her to go to bed early just  _ once _ and you did it in one try! How did you do that?”

“Oh Robbie well I just...” Sportacus didn’t really know how to reply, “Well, I just compromised!

“What?”

“I asked her why she didn’t want to and when she told me I listened.” Sportacus thought out loud, he wasn’t used to going through his process since it was second nature to him, “Then I told her she could run with me if she went to bed early-I compromised.”

“Well  _ I’m _ not going to  _ run _ with her” ,The villain looked disgusted

Sportacus chuckled, “No, Robbie, but you can still compromise with her in other ways! Just listen and tell her she can have something if she does what you want her to do.”

Robbie nodded but he still didn’t seem quite sure of the whole concept. Grumbling something under his breath he then turned away from Sportacus and back to whatever machine he had been working on before the hero came in with a, “Okay Sportaflop, well now it’s time for you to go to bed or do... whatever it is you do at this time of night.”

Sportacus knew that was Robbie’s way of saying thank you so he simply smiled with an “Alright, good night Robbie!” ,and flipped out of the lair.

There was a smile plastered to his face for the rest of the evening and, when he closed his eyes to sleep, the last thing he saw was Robbie in that unique outfit of his asking him for help. Although it was originally a perturbing sight, Sportacus couldn’t help but let out a little dreamy sigh when he thought of how much his villain had opened up to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sportacus is just a school boy in love and Robbie is OBLIVIOUS  
> Anyways, here we are. I had ALOT of trouble writing this because I was trying to make it funny but then it was turning out angsty (so sorry if the tone is a bit screwed up here). Ontop of that, when I got to writing the part where trixie showed up she took the reigns and changed the direction of my story ENTIRELY so that's why this took so long.  
> I had to completely replot everything, I swear I had like 4 drafts for this chapter OTL  
> It should be easier after this, i'm really looking foreword to continuing with this verse and I hope you guys are just as pumped!  
> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy!


	2. Upset

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robbie and Trixie have a fight but it doesn't end like it usually does.

“Well I’ll give you this  _ big juicy _ piece of  _ candy _ if you’ll clean your room”, Robbie waved the confectionary treat in Trixie’s direction, bending over slightly and making a loud MMM MM sound as if the candy he held in his hand was better then a small loan of a million dollars.

Trixie crossed her arms, “No.”

“30 minutes of tv before bed for the next week?”

“Nu-uh”

“An extra bedtime story read in costume?”

“Nope”

“More cake?”

“Ew, no.”

Robbie threw up his hands in exasperation, “Then what do you want, child!”

“Robbie, my room’s clean enough! I don’t need to clean it any more and  _ bribing _ me won’t fix that!”

“Then how do you explain the funky smell coming from underneath your bed-even I don’t leave food lying around that long!” ,Robbie pushed past her, “I can’t even take two steps in here without being followed by a crunching sound, clean your room Trixie!”

“But Robbie”

For some reason, the whiny tone in her voice hit the wrong nerve. Robbie swung around and with a tone much too upset for this small dispute (which they had practically every week) he growled and pointed a finger, “DON’T you Robbie me, little miss! You don’t know how nice I am to you! It’s not like I even ask you to do much around here!”

“Yes you do!” her anger was just as unwarranted, “You’re constantly asking me to get out of the room and to be quiet! Plus I  _ always  _ have to do the dishes.”

Robbie was practically shaking, his face red and fists balled up tightly.

“Yes” he said through clenched teeth, “But that’s only when you’re too loud for anyone to find acceptable or keeping me from my work and dishes aren’t even the worst thing I can ask you to do-especially since I don’t even make you do mine”

He was trying desperately not to let this get out of control. Being the genius that he was, Robbie knew that they both played off of each other's anger. Often times their arguments were less about the actual subject and more about feeling defensive and hurt by the tone being used. He was trying not to let that happen again but then Trixie said, “Work?! What do you mean work! All you ever do is try to get Sportacus out of town and make pens that don’t even write!”

Robbie’s eyes snapped open. He had yelled, he had shouted, he had threatened and he had even tried compromising like Sportacus had suggested but at this point he was passed all that. Robbie never thought he’d get to a place in his life were he was so angry, so vehemently upset, that yelling didn’t express it but he was there now.

Robbie pointed to the door of Trixie’s room and in a voice too calm for the situation, too barren of expression, spoke, “You need to leave.”

“What? What do you mean I ne-”

Robbie had this horrible feeling in his stomach, “You need to sleep over at Stephanie’s house tonight.”

Trixie’s eyebrows folded, “What?”

“ _ Go. _ ”

Her eyes widened and she seemed to understand. Probably better than Robbie did at the moment and with shaky movements she locked eyes with him, went to grab a bag and packed it. She was scared, that much was apparent but Robbie was too. So much in fact that when she had to get closer to him in order to get to her closet he flinched away and quickly hurried out of the room, shutting himself in the bathroom and not opening the door again until he heard her exit the bunker.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhh.... I've had this written and edited since april but for some reason I never posted it?? Sorry about that, anyways here it is! The next chapter is also written (but not edited) i'll try to get it done tonight since I made y'all wait too long for this one. 
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and if anything looks wrong tell me so I can fix it!


	3. Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robbie doesn't want help but Sportacus isn't about to take no for an answer

It was the second time this week that he had been invited to solve a problem regarding the Rotten household but this time, it wasn’t Robbie who had asked for help.

Sunset in lazy town was one of Sportacus’ favorite times and currently, the man in question was doing some cool down exercise in the fresh air while offhandedly checking to make sure everyone was home safe and sound. He had thought the answer was yes (after all the kids were usually at home hours before sunset) but then the patter of feet behind him and a strained “Sportacus” bounced off the trees around him.

Turning around he saw Trixie, her backpack on her shoulders and a strained expression on her face as she skidded to a stop in front of him.

“Trixie?”

The girl in question panted a bit and then looked up at her hero, her eyes seemed to be more watery than usual.

She took a moment to collect herself before standing up straighter, trying her best to look serious, “Sportacus I need help.”

He bent down so they were eye level, now deeply concerned, “What’s wrong Trixie?”

Trixie opened her mouth to say something then closed it again.

“It’s Robbie” she finally managed to say after a long moment, “He-I--well we… Well I think I upset him...”

The hero cocked his head as she continued, “I kinda said some not nice things and I know that was bad but he took it really really bad and-and”

The tears in her eyes looked like they were threatening to spill and she sharply jutted her chin away from the hero, hiding them.

Sportacus put a hand on her shoulder, “It’s okay Trixie, take you time and tell me what happened.”

She breathed deeply and Sport stood up, guiding her to a nearby bench so that she could sit down.

“Well sometimes Robbie and I say things that aren’t nice to each other but we always say sorry and usually it’s okay. But today he didn’t let me say sorry. He was really really upset he was… he sounded really upset...  he told me I had to leave.”

Sportacus’ mustache twitched, “Had to leave?”

Trixie nodded sadly, “Yes he told me I had to sleep over at Stephanie’s house-not Pinkie but Stephanie.”

Trixie looked up at Sportacus, “I think you need to talk to him and make sure he’s okay. He’s never acted like this before.”

Sportacus didn’t know the full extent of the story but he didn’t think Trixie was able to tell him, she had tried but there were certain details missing. His main concern, however, was just to make sure she was okay.

“But are you feeling alright, Trixie?"

Trixie looked at him for a moment, seriously contemplating the question before nodding, “Yes I’m just worried about Robbie, I can handle this though.”

Sportacus had to smile at her bravery, “Alright.”

He walked her to Stephanie’s house and made sure that Trixie was allowed to spend the night. The answer was a tenacious yes and the two Meanswells didn’t pry into the situation anymore, they just cared for their friend.

When that was taken care of Sportacus started flipping towards Robbie’s lair. He hadn’t noticed it at first, but when Trixie left and gave him back his full attention he suddenly felt overwhelmed with concern. He wanted to believe that Robbie was okay, that this wasn’t a big deal, but the way Trixie spoke about the situation filled him with doubt. What had made Robbie snap like that? Why had he gone to such an extreme over something that apparently happened regularly? 

For a moment, the slightly-above average hero was able to convince himself that this was just a fluke. Maybe, Robbie was just abnormally tired. That wasn’t out of character, neither was the idea that he didn’t actually mean for her to leave. Sportacus was able to convince himself that maybe it was all just a big misunderstanding but then, he landed in Robbie’s home.

The first thing that greeted him was the lack of Robbie. For some reason he had expected the man to be in his chair or at least somewhere in sight but the only clue that he was even in the building was the sound of… sniffling.

The hairs on sportacus’ neck stood up, “Robbie?”

There was no response and the sound of the other man went on undisturbed.

“Robbie?” Sportacus called again as be began to shuffle in the direction of the sound. One of the doors were open and inside were decorations and sheets that looked like they belonged to Trixie. Robbie wasn’t inside.

Sportacus shuffled down the hidden hallway he had found a little further until he stopped in front of a door with light shining underneath. Here, the sounds of sniffling and jagged breathing was the loudest.

He pushed it open, ‘Robbie…”

The room looked like a small bathroom. There was a toilet, standing shower, and sink all illuminated by a bright dirty light. Curled up by the toilet and against the wall was Robbie who, didn’t even move to look at the hero (unless his shoulders and shaking hunched back was a response). He wasn’t even hiding the fact that he was crying-nor was he trying to acknowledge the hero, to Sportacus that was a big warning sign.

“Robbie” Sportacus repeated, walking over and crouching down.

This time he did get some sort of response, Robbie shifted more towards the wall and pressed his forehead even deeper into his legs with a loud sob. The sound all but broke Sportacus but he had to stay strong.

“Robbie,” Sportacus repeated a bit firmer, “what’s wrong?”

A moment or two passed and Sportacus realized that this wasn’t going to let up anytime soon. Not wanting to leave the man alone (lest he make Robbie feel abandoned) Sportacus shifted so that he would lean against the wall next to him and simply wait for him to be ready. Atleast, he thought he would have to wait it out but Sportacus made the mistake of lifting a hand up to rub Robbie’s shoulder. As soon as it brushed against his skin Robbie violently flinched back and yelled, “DON’T TOUCH ME!”

Sportacus practically jumped out of his skin but Robbie didn’t seem to notice as he glared venomously at the hero.

“W-who do you think you are?! Waltzing in here like you can cure the common cold, can’t you just let a Villain sulk in peace, can’t I get any privacy?!” ,Robbie’s voice was cracking

“Robbie, you’re not a Villain you-”

“YES I AM SPORTACUS! I’m a horrible person now get out of my lair before I-I” Robbie cut himself off with a fresh wave of tears, his chin crumbled as they began to pour out and he shameful tried to hide them by curling back into fetal position.

“Robbie…” the pity in Sportacus’ voice made Robbie want to scream but his throat was too thick to do anything but cry, “You’re a very kind and good person. You’re a wonderful friend and an amazing adoptive father to Trixie, even if you think you’re a villain you still mean a lot to everyone.”

Sportacus had to clasp his hands together to keep from physically comforting Robbie. It was so hard to just sit back and watch someone he cared about cry, so hard to rely only on his words which he didn’t think he was very good with.

It took a moment but Robbie calmed down enough to look up at Sportacus. The majorly debilitating parts of his break down had passed, he would still shake and his eyes weren’t very clear but he was in control enough to look tiredly at the hero. 

“You can go now.”

Robbie would have probably said more but he was too tired by the whole display. He felt acutely uncomfortable being so  _ raw _ in front of his ‘enemy’ and all he wanted to do was sleep it off.

“I would very much like to help you if you are okay wi-”

“Of course i’m not okay with it Sport,” Robbie sniffled and looked towards the toilet paper, “we both know i’m not worth your time so don’t waste it.”

Sportacus was ripping off a piece of toilet paper with a very hurt expression before Robbie could even reach it.

“Robbie what makes you think you’re not worth my time? You’re a very good person and i’d be happy to help even if it’s just doing this.”

Sportacus gave Robbie the toilet paper so that he would wipe his face up and the taller man felt like he was going to throw up.

Ripping the toilet paper from the hero’s hand, Robbie blew his nose and glared at him, “Well I don’t need  _ your _ help, Sportasly. And if you don’t get out of my lair i’ll show you just how much I can do without it.”

Robbie suddenly stood up then but he did it just a bit too fast and stumbled. Sportacus was up with in a second ready to catch the villain but that just infuriated him even more. 

“What! What do you  _ want  _ you Sportapest!” ,The taller man pointed an accusatory finger into Sportacus’ chest and loomed over him, “What? Do you want me to shout at you like I did with Trixie do you want me to--to”

He froze, eyes widening at what he was about to say and what he had already said. Shakily, he withdrew his hand and turned away from Sportacus.

“Just get out of my lair…” Robbie sighed as he began to pace away.

Sportacus followed after a moment and walked slowly so that Robbie could have a moment alone. He wasn’t about to leave him, not when he was clearly so unstable, but he didn’t want to push him either. 

When Sportacus made it back to the main room he found Robbie slumped into his big orange chair, staring at the air in front of him with tired eyes. He approached the other man cautiously before quietly asking, “Robbie, why did you and Trixie fight?”

The taller man cringed, he had been expecting that but that didn’t make it any easier to hear. For a moment, Robbie thought about giving another sour retort or pulling out the prototype for his sugar sprayer 3400 that he had abandoned months ago but, at this point he figured that even  _ that _ wouldn’t keep Sportacus away.Robbie decided to answer honestly since it was the easiest option (as much as it hurt him to admit).

“Nothing really… Something about her room but we argue like that all the time.”

“What made it not like the other times?”

Robbie set his jaw, now  _ that _ was crossing a line he didn’t feel like touching. Grinding his teeth ever so slightly Robbie straightened up, “Look, Sportastink, the  _ point _ is that I tried getting her to clean her room. I even did that  _ weird _ compromising thing that  _ you  _ suggested but it  _ didn’t _ work. Things got a little out of hand so I told her to get out of my hair. There, does that make you happy?”

Sportacus frowned, “Out of hand?”

Robbie stood up, his face red again but not because he was crying, “Yes! Out of hand, Sportadeaf, and that’s all i’m going to say about it. Now, if you aren’t going to do anything more then repeat after me then I suggest you get out before I  _ make _ you.”

“I’m sorry Robbie, I didn’t mean to sound rude I just wanted to know if anything else happened.”

“Of course other things happened! Trixie and I constantly bicker but today I-” ,Robbie stopped himself.

Again, Sportacus noticed that Robbie was broaching a subject that he wasn’t ready to talk about. What ever had happened clearly hadn’t been detrimental judging by how Trixie was still okay but Robbie seemed to be upset about something he had done. Maybe when it was less fresh he would be ready to talk about it.

“How about I come over tomorrow, Robbie?”

“ _ What _ ?”

Sportacus nodded, “Yep, maybe if I saw how you guys argued I could help you figure out a solution. Compromising might not have worked but that doesn’t mean we can’t try something else.”

Robbie blinked slowly and opened his mouth as if to reply. Nothing came out however, at least not until he awkwardly let out a disbelieving ‘sure?’

Snatching up the opportunity Sportacus’ smile flashed outstandingly bright as he practically bounced up to Robbie, “Alright i’ll see you tomorrow! Goodnight Robbie!” Then, he sprinted towards the exit pipe and scrambled out before Robbie could even utter another syllable. 

The villain stared at the pipe, unsure what had happened but knowing that it was a mistake, before finally muttering, “Sheesh if he really wanted to leave he should have done it sooner.”

Robbie then slumped back into his orange chair, snuggling into it’s fluff despite knowing that he probably wouldn’t get any sleep that night.

Sportacus, on the other hand, despite looking so energetic has he left felt just as bad. He wished he could do something more for Robbie but at the moment, taking the opportunity to spend more time with him seemed to be the only way he could comfort the antisocial man. Even if it was a bit hasty it was the best thing to do.

One thing was for certain, though, tomorrow was bound to be an  _ experience. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, we've reached the climax folks which means that this fic is probably gonna be a lot shorter then the last one lol. I mean, this chapter was supposed to be 2 separate ones and considering I only had 7 to begin with... yoikes.
> 
> One thing I want to address, btw, is how Sportacus is dealing with these emotional situations. I know that the general head canon is that he sucks at dealing with emotional distress and although I LOVE that idea it 1. didn't really fit with this story and 2. doesn't feel natural to write? My thought process is that Sportacus is only as great as he is now due to training/learning to be good. If he could turn into such a HUNK through determination and practice then why wouldn't he be able to learn how to manage emotional distress to?
> 
> ANYWAYS, thanks for reading and commenting for those of you who do! I hope this is okay to read (even when I occasionally slip memes into here lol)


	4. Honest rhymes with Modest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sportacus comes over to help, like he promised, and has a late night chat with Robbie ;^)

Robbie flopped down in his chair like a used rag being thrown into the dirty clothes bin. And, good candy floss did he, the night had taken alot out of him. So much so that when he closed his eyes (more out of habit then force) he looked practically dead.

Sportacus on the other hand, couldn’t contain the smile that broke out on his face as he sat down on the floor, leaning his head against the fluffy recliner in a rare moment of relaxation. After allowing himself to unwind he looked up at the purple man and said “You did well Robbie!” ,although he hadn’t really done much of anything at all.

“Of course you’d say that,” Robbie snorted as he sat up to look at the sports elf, “even after I was yelling at you all night to calm down. I didn’t even have time to fight with Trixie I was too busy making sure you didn’t flippity flippity flippity flop your way into one of my machines.”

“Robbie, you did start to fight with Trixie. But before either one of you could get too angry you found a solution. I didn’t even have to step in and help!”

Robbie harrumphed and crossed his arms as he slumped back into the chair; Sportacus shifted so that he was practically kneeling in front of his friend, “Don’t underestimate yourself Robbie, you did good.”

The taller man’s eyes darted down to look at the elf before swiftly flicking away and-oh was that a bit of pink on his cheeks? Sportacus looked away and twirled a bit of the big orange chair’s fluff in between his fingers, “Parenting is hard Robbie, I can admit that if I were in your shoes I probably wouldn’t be able to be perfect all the time. You’re a wonderful guardian even if it doesn’t always feel like it.”

Robbie snorted again, “Puh-lease Sportaflop! You wouldn’t even have to try to be a good parent. You’re already perfect-especially with those brats.”

Despite his almost insulted tone of voice, he didn’t even glance at Sportacus and had started to copy the hero by playing with the fluff of his obnoxious orange chair too. Why was the air between them so awkward all of a sudden?

“No it’s true! I might be good with the kids but I don’t live with them, I already make mistakes but i’d probably make more if I was around them all day. I know how to care and play with children but not how to raise one.”

“Mistakes! I’ve never even seen you trip and considering how many obnoxious flips and flops you do statistically speaking, you should have knocked out all your teeth by now!” ,to punctuate his sentence Robbie extended the footrest of his chair causing Sportacus to dive out of the way. Did elves have a built in danger sense or something? Robbie huffed dramatically and then stood up, walking to his kitchen area to make himself a drink. Warm milk perhaps? Nah he was going straight to the hard stuff--hot chocolate.

Sportacus followed him into the kitchen and leaned against a counter, “Robbie, everyone makes mistakes.”

“Ha!” he swirled around to point an accusatory finger, “So you admit it!”

“What?” ,Sportacus’ face was one of pure confusion.

“You said everyone when you would’ve said every _ elf _ if you were talking about yourself meaning you don’t make mistakes!” ,he was smiling like an idiot, a clear sign that he was just teasing (although he wouldn’t admit it if anyone asked).

“Robbie, that’s not how it works.” ,although still slightly confused Sportacus had a light feeling in his chest. Was Robbie just that sleep deprived or did he really feel safe enough with Sportacus to show him this goofy side of himself? A month ago the villain wouldn’t have even thrown him a smile but now… how things had changed.

Robbie’s hot coco was done and he was now leaning against the counter opposite of Sportacus, sipping out of it as if he wasn’t the type of person to gulp it down in 10 seconds without regret. It was silent for a moment so Robbie filled the gap as best he could.

“Tomato Tomahto Sportaflip you’re just trying to be modest and it isn’t working,” ,Robbie rolled his eyes even though they were slightly beyond that point in their conversation.

Sportacus grinned and played along, “Modest rhymes with honest for a reason Robbie.”

The villain was left sputtering, partially because of the elf’s outrageous claim but mostly because he wasn’t sure how to respond to it. Sportacus on the other hand was trying (and failing) to keep from laughing as Robbie spit up a bit of hot chocolate. Before he could think about the implications of his actions, he had grabbed a napkin from the stack behind him and had moved in to wipe some of the dark liquid off the taller man’s chin. It wasn’t until he realized how still and stiff the other man had gone beneath him that he thought to look up. For some reason, Robbie looked hurt. Sportacus’ eyes widened and he stopped, frozen solid with questions about why Robbie would look so  _ small _ simply because Sportacus was wiping his chin; better yet, why had he decided to wipe the other man’s chin when he knew better then to get so close to the other man? Sportacus moved away when Robbie cleared his throat, quickly preoccupying himself with the task of rubbing the back of his neck and tracking down the trashcan. Why did he always put himself into situations that he knew he couldn’t have?

Sportacus could barely meet the other man’s eye as he fumbled, “I-uh, it’s getting a bit late I should leave you to rest.”

Flashing him a half hearted smile, the elf dared to backflip out of the kitchen because he was panicking too much to follow Robbie’s ‘no athletics’ policy, and quickly retreated. Before he was completely out of the other man’s lair, though, he remembered to throw a “Good night Robbie, sleep well!” ,over his shoulder.

If he had bothered to stick around, however, he would have noticed how Robbie relaxed almost immediately after Sportacus had backed away and how his grey eyes had softened just the slightest bit despite how uncomfortable he initially was. If Sportacus hadn’t let his feelings get the best of him (as they too often did when Robbie was in the picture) he would have probably stayed with Robbie-atleast until he had fallen asleep. If he had then maybe the villain wouldn’t have stayed up so late that night, anxiously overplaying that moment in his head, making it out to be more than it had been. Maybe Robbie wouldn’t have come to the conclusion that Sportacus was playing with his emotions and tricking him into a false sense of security… or something like that. After all, Robbie couldn’t just accept that Sportacus was being so gentle and almost… loverly with him because he actually liked the villain. No, that was just ridiculous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First thing i'd like to address is the chapter counter. I finally set it at 8 (although I suspect there might only be 6 or 7 chapters to this) which means we're about halfway through the story! Wow!
> 
> Next thing i'd like to say is that this chapter changed ALOT while I was writing it, it's way shorter then I intended it to be but adding my other ideas into this chapter messed up the flow too much so I just stuck to the core of it. Because this chapter is so short I might end up posting the next one tonight also (as always it just needs to be edited) however the next chapter is SUPER long because it's the climax and I 1. still need to decide if it's okay to split up and 2. am a bit tired + have job orientation tomorrow so I probably shouldn't... If I don't get it up tonight then it'll be up tuesday (since i'll be busy tomorrow).
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading! Feel free to tell me if there are any errors or if something looks funky, I appreciate every comment.


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